A surgical suite is physically divided between a “sterile field” and a “non-sterile field.” The sterile field comprises the patient, the doctors and attending nurses, the equipment required for the procedure, and the physical portion of the suite occupied by this personnel and equipment. While the non-sterile field can be defined broadly as the area not in the sterile field, it is generally considered to comprise the personnel and equipment in an area adjacent the sterile field where tasks directly associated with the surgery are conducted. A problem often confronted during surgery is the maintenance of sterile conditions in the sterile field when passing items from the non-sterile field to the sterile field.
In one technique for passing an article from the non-sterile field to the sterile field, the article is sterilized and brought to the non-sterile field in a container that maintains the sterility. The container is opened by a person in the non-sterile field without touching the article. The container is then held adjacent the boundary (which may be imaginary) so that the article may be removed from the container by one in the sterile field. This technique is generally satisfactory. A particular problem, however, has been the transfer of sterile fluids to the sterile field.
A known technique for the transfer of fluids to the sterile field includes withdrawing the fluids into a syringe in a known, sterile manner, carrying the syringe of fluid to the boundary of the sterile field, and discharging the fluid from the syringe into a container in the sterile field. Discharge of the fluids into an open container, however, carries the risk that some of the fluids will be spilled and, thus, lost. In some instances, the needle of the syringe is inserted into the port of a container in the sterile field, but this is problematic because these ports are small and hard to engage. Further, the container is often held by a person in the sterile field, and this presents the risk that the needle will inadvertently be brought into contact with the person holding the container. This risks transmission of diseases to the person in the sterile field.